Working on: ``Generations,`` a soap opera on NBC-TV. Most people associate me with ``Shaft,`` so it`s really a departure to play a doctor with a 20-year-old daughter.

The last good movie I saw was: ``Glory.``

I stay home to watch: ``Equal Justice`` and ``L.A. Law.``

Favorite performer: Sidney Poitier. He`s always, always such a class act. Favorite memory: I was on the David Frost show and I mentioned my 102-year-old grandmother, and during the commercial break, David said we had to bring her on. So he did, and she was a riot. He asked her where, if she could go anywhere in the world, would she go, and she said, ``Chicago.`` He said:

``Chicago? Why not Africa?`` She said, ``What do I want to go to Africa for?`` She had never been west of South Carolina, and Chicago was a big deal to her.

Prized possession: My photograph with Haile Selassie.

Personal hero: My father. I was scared to death of him. In his own quiet way, he was a strong man, and everyone seemed to love him. It`s amazing how much I`ve become like him.

I`ve never been able to: Save money.

I`d give anything to meet: Nelson Mandela.

I want to teach my children: That they`re perfect the way they are.

My fantasy is: Kicking back in Bali.

The worst advice my mother ever gave me was: ``Stand next to the furnace.`` She said it when I had the chicken pox. I don`t know where she got that idea.

The one thing I can`t stand is: When people drive in the left lane on the freeway and just go the speed limit.

People who knew me in high school thought I was: Cool. Little did they know I was scared to death.